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Every time another journalist told us Kathleen Wynne was Canada’s first openly gay premier we all had another beer.

Over and over again the mediocre and the malleable on Canadian television and radio told us with undisguised glee that Ontario’s premier designate was a woman — yes, we realized — and that she was a lesbian — yes, we know, because she and you kept reminding us.

Her gender is hardly the point: Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Golda Meir were all female leaders, and none of them icons of the left. Women can be right wing or left wing, so I’m not sure what the point is.

As for sexuality, there are plenty of gay men and women in politics, and in media we respect their rights to be public or private.

You see, many of us believe we are defined by more than our sexuality, and being gay does not characterize or epitomize what we are and how we think. Mind you, many gay people appear to believe otherwise, and go on about their sexuality when the majority of people simply don’t care.

Or they shamelessly exploit it. Liberal politician George Smitherman is a good example. He was a disastrous Ontario cabinet minister and then ran for mayor of Toronto against Rob Ford and was smashed into a pulp.

Why?

Because he was a minister during a time of acute scandal, because he is a notorious bully, because people don’t trust him. Pretty straightforward, really.

Yet there he was on television stating that being gay led to “suppression of votes,” whatever that means.

No, furious George, you lost because you’re a loser; not a gay loser, just a loser. Wynne is not a bully, is much more likeable and won for all sorts of reasons.

One of them, however, was precisely because she is gay.

She received financial and political support because of this issue, an entire block of votes was transferred to her because a rival candidate considered it was time for a gay person to become premier, and there was massive media affection because it’s supremely fashionable to appear “progressive” on the gay subject.

Mentally ill homeless people, autistic children, or unemployment just don’t cut it. But becoming emotional about homosexuality qualifies you as compassionate and caring.

It’s all hooey, of course. Wynne herself gave a speech just before she was elected where she said it was wonderful that a Catholic could run for leadership.

Yet only last year one of her main supporters, Glen Murray, told Catholic bishops, when it came to teaching Catholic beliefs about homosexuality, “You’re not allowed to do that anymore.”

Wynne herself campaigned against giving funding to Christian education partly because, as she said on my television show, she claimed it would lead to rioting and cars burning on the streets!

So spare us the nonsense about gay victimhood, please. Wynne is intelligent, and I’ve always enjoyed my interviews and debates with her, but she now leads a government layered in dubious deals and financial incompetence, and sexuality has nothing to do with it.

Digression plays in politics however, and I predict the homophobia card will be played big time by the Liberals in the months to come.

Homophobia card up Grits’ sleeves?

Every time another journalist told us Kathleen Wynne was Canada’s first openly gay premier we all had another beer.

Over and over again the mediocre and the malleable on Canadian television and radio told us with undisguised glee that Ontario’s premier designate was a woman — yes, we realized — and that she was a lesbian — yes, we know, because she and you kept reminding us.

Her gender is hardly the point: Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Golda Meir were all female leaders, and none of them icons of the left. Women can be right wing or left wing, so I’m not sure what the point is.

As for sexuality, there are plenty of gay men and women in politics, and in media we respect their rights to be public or private.

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Several centuries ago the peasants of England revolted against their masters and one of their leaders, a dissident cleric, rallied them with the cry, “When Adam dug and Eve span who was then a gentleman?”

I have written three books and numerous articles about the Crusades, slavery and the Inquisition, so I suppose I am, forgive me, somewhat qualified to discuss them. Not, of course, as expert as President Barack Obama, because he seems to be an authority on pretty much everything.